College Sports

CSU fans navigate routes around flooded areas to the game

Rams fans celebrated a touchdown in the first half. The Colorado State University football team defeated Cal Poly at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins.
(Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

FORT COLLINS —Flooding problems throughout the Front Range greatly impacted the attendance for the football game Saturday afternoon between Colorado State (0-2) against visiting Cal Poly (1-1), with a smaller than expected crowd anticipated.

But a small survey of fans attending the game revealed that most had few problems getting to Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium, although it may have take a bit of creativity.

Brad Wilson of Lakewood, a 56-year-old Jefferson County employee, drove north on Interstate 25. When Wilson saw a sign that indicated I-25 was closed north of Harmony Road in Fort Collins, Wilson exited onto U.S. 34 in Loveland and then went north into Fort Collins on U.S. 287.

"With everybody getting off on Harmony, I didn't want to have to deal with that," Wilson said.

Fortunately, I-25 at least was open to Harmony Road. Until Friday evening, parts of the Interstate had been closed from Erie northward.

Bob Wing, 70, and a retiree from Lakewood, drove up with his son-in-law and said traffic flowed smoothly along I-25. "Except for the 'rubber-neckers' who slowed at the Big Thompson (River) to, I guess, see how high it was," Wing said.

"We only left (the Denver area) a half-hour early, and we were fine," he added. "We would have kicked ourselves in the rear end if we had decided not to come to the game."

Loveland and Fort Collins had some road closures to navigate , but their residents, for the most part, knew to go take other routes.

"I just happened to pick the right one," said Marcia Bettger, a 40-year-old teacher in Loveland. "I have to admit, it was more luck than anything — and knowing my way around town."

Floyd and Shirley Taladay, who live in a flood-prone area of Fort Collins along Shields Avenue, had been notified by Reverse 911 to be ready to evacuate at some point this weekend if heavy rains returned. But they decided to come to the game, anyway, driving to Moby Arena and riding a university shuttle from there.

"They should be able to get through the game," Floyd said. "They're saying rain this afternoon or early morning hours. They're saying we could get one to four. They told us, 'If we call again, be ready to move out.'"

Bob and Joyce Folbrecht of Fort Collins found themselves in the unusual position of getting to the stadium an hour before kickoff and killing time. "We knew which roads were closed," Bob said. "We've been here a long time and have found out there's more than one way to get here. This is earlier than we usually get here because we thought it might take longer, but it really didn't. We got to park a lot closer than we usually do."

Michael Johnston drove his classic 24-foot mobile home from Loveland, near the Budweiser Events Center, and was hosting his usual tailgate party in one of the south parking lots. "I had no trouble getting here, but being a local native, I knew what roads to take today." He laughed and added, "We had an unfair advantage," he said, laughing.

One of his long-time tailgate regulars, John Farley, said he left Broomfield about 10:20 a.m. and it took no longer than usual.

"We went downtown and had some lunch and went to the (CSU) Bookstore and got some new gear," he said.

Johnston, the tailgate host, voiced what seemed to be a common viewpoint about the decision to play the game as scheduled. "I would have supported it either way they went," he said.

Despite the low turnout, Colorado State athletic director Jack Graham said Saturday he did not regret the decision to have the game played as scheduled. Graham said he was convinced that the game should be played when campus police determined that additional officers were not needed.

"We did the right thing," Graham said. "We just didn't want to take law enforcement away from helping those impacted by the floods."

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